#29 The Bluest Eye

by Toni Morrison

Another sad book, that's two in a row. This is a shorter book mostly about a girl named Pecola. Pecola isn't loved by anyone. She is poor and isn't pretty. Her one wish is for blue eyes, because she thinks everyone will love her if she had blue eyes. Her father is a drunk who dispisses his children and wife. Her mother is resentful of her husband and delights in only beautiful things. Because she wishes for beautiful things, she enjoys working for a rich white family, and taking care of their beautiful little daughter.

Pecola is picked on by the kids at school, and just about everyone she meets. I was suprised at the fact that young black children used derogatory black terms against each other, as if they were not black themselves. Let me clarify that a bit. I'm not talking about the way black children and even adults use derogatory black terms to their friends in present time. In this book they use them as insults and ways to hurt each other's feelings. It's really sad that the world had showed them such disrespect for black people that they felt they should treat each other with that same disrespect.

Pecola is rapped by her father and she gets pregnant. I was suprised that whole community shunned her for this. They gossiped about her and how horrible she was to get pregnant by her father. It was a really eye-opening book to the ways of life for blacks around the 1950s and 1060s. There were many lines in this book that stood out to me. If I had been reading it and not listening to it, I would probably have 10 or more quotes to put in this review, but in stead I have none.

#28 The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold

I finished this book a few weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting my review...that's why the date may not make sense if you've checked my blog recently.

When I first started listening to this book I didn't really enjoy the reader's way of reading. This actually happens often until I get used to the different voice, but this book was particularly unenjoyable. The reader read slow and was kind of monotonous. About a third of the way through the book, I decided that the style of reading was actually well suited for this book...it was very poetic. It made the book seem like one long, sad poem.

This was a different book and strange to get into. It's about a girl who is rapped and murdered. The book is told from her point-of-view. She is in "Her Heaven", which is different from anyone else's heaven. Her heaven has the things she likes and wishes for, but it intersects others' heavens where their wishes and likes intersect. She often goes to a gazebo where she can view anyone on Earth. She watches her family, a couple friends, and even the man that murdered her. She watches the different ways her family and friends cope with her death, and she watches the police's futile efforts to solve the crime. Her father has to do something, anything he can do to help solve the crime. Her mother shuts down and eventually runs off to California to get away from it all. Her younger sister shuts everyone out and puts on an act that she is fine. She also watches her sister grow up and experience the things she was never able to experience. In some ways, she grows-up through her sister, because growing up is the one thing you can't wish for in any heaven.

This book made me think about a lot of different things, and it left an impression that will stick with me. I can't say it was an enjoyable book, because it was sad and a little depressing, but I am glad that I read it. I think what will stick with me most is the acceptance she had for the different ways each of her family members dealt with the tragedy. She didn't judge her mother for running out, or her father for never finding the man who killed her. Each member of the family had their problems, but she loved them all and accepted them for who they were.